Church of Christ Studies

In six days God created the heaven and the earth
On the seventh day He rested from His work
As He examined each part, He said it was good
And gave them rules for each part to continue as
   it should

God wanted a caretaker to till the ground
And from the dust of the earth He made man
Soon it was evident that man needed a helper
And from Adam God made woman and she was
   a keeper

God made them a garden for every thing they
   needed
And turned it over to them to care and keep it
Soon a visitor came to the garden to visit them
The devil, an angel that was thrown out of heaven

Perhaps to show his authority and opportunity for revenge
He was able to tempt Eve and caused her to sin
When God confronted her Adam stood up for her
God said, henceforth the wages of sin is death

So the “Paradise” God had planned and given to man
Because of his actions it was taken from him
Generation after generation man continue to sin
God soon saw that man was not to “give in”

One family, however, was righteous, winning God’s favor
It altered God’s plan to destroy man forever
God told Noah to build a boat, it would be needed
He caused it to rain and the whole earth was inundated

With the family of Noah mankind would continue
So strange, but man continued to be sinners
Throughout the generation of Noah there was one speech
God confused their speech and the tower to heaven they couldn’t  complete

Now in the days of Abraham the son of Terah
God told Abraham to go where He would steer him
t God promised he would become sa great nation
And he would be blessed with many a blessing

God led Abraham to the country of Egypt
When Pharaoh saw Sarah he intended to keep her ,
But God sent so many plagues because of his actions
Pharaoh told Abraham to get out of his country

 

Abraham went to Canaan, his nephew Lot went to Sodom
Abraham became rich while Lot reached “bottom”
Battles were fought and Lot’s brother taken prisoner
Abraham took his servants and rescued him

God had great plans for Abraham if his faith didn’t waver
He proposed a test to find if it was able
“Go to a certain place and offer me sacrifice”
And the sacrifice was to be his son Isaac

Abraham assured Isaac, “God, will provide”
He prepared Isaac and had in his hand the knife
God called to Abraham, “stop it, don’t do it!
I tested your faith and you have proved it”

God told Abraham he would father a great nation
And from his seed one would come with salvation
Meanwhile life took its twists and its turns
History was being made for others later to learn

Isaac and Rebekah had twin boys
Esau and Jacob, and Esau was the first born
Isaac loved Esau, Rebekah loved Jacob
As the boys grew older a problem developed

Jacob and his mother tricked Esau out of his birthright
When it became clear what was not right
Jacob was asked to leave and stay out of sight
Later we learn they were able to forgive and reunite

Jacob dreamed about a ladder that reached to heaven
With angels ascending and descending, the Lord above them
The Lord told Jacob his seed would bless in every direction
North, south, east, west and Jacob was awakened

Jacob from a wrestling match was never the same
He asked a blessing and his name was changed
Changed to Israel, the father of the l2 tribes
The people from whom the Messiah would arrive

Jacob had a son whose name was Joseph
Whose unusual talent his brothers had enough
They sold him as a slave to the Lord of Egypt
And told their father by a beast he was eaten

 

Joseph became a Trustee in Pharaoh’s house
Potifer’s wife was determined he was her choice
With every temptation she placed before him
He refused to betray God or master, she couldn’t win

So, with evil desire she played a trick on him
With her “evidence” Potifer imprisoned him
In prison his interpreting dreams became known
Pharaoh sent for him about a dream of his own

When Pharaoh described the dream that he had
Joseph said it was from God and it was so sad
There would be 7 years of plenty, 7 of famine
Pharaoh so impressed he put Joseph 2nd in command

As Joseph predicted the famine occurred
And it covered the whole wide world
Egypt with J oseph’s leadership was prepared
While others suffered Egypt was spared

Joseph was in charge of selling Egypt’s corn
Jacob sent his sons to Egypt for they had none
When they met Joseph he kept his identity from them
He questioned them harshly and asked about Benjamin

With J oseph’s help Israel settled in Goshen
And soon prosperity was set in motion
As Israel multiplied and became quite powerful
All of Egypt became most fearful

Jacob as promised burial in his homeland
In due time was buried along with Abraham
Joseph assured his brothers all was well
For their past treatment he had no ill will

When Joseph died at age ll0
He was buried in Canaan with his kin
A Pharaoh now ruled who knew not Joseph
And that’s what Exodus continues with